Three men linked to schools arrested in Fostoria child sex sting operation

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Three men who have ties to schools were arrested by Fostoria Police as part of a child sex sting operation.

The Fostoria Police Department has recently booked over a dozen men through its Internet Crimes Against Children Operation.

On Feb. 26, Fostoria Police arrested 27-year-old Kevin Crowe who was accused of trying to meet a juvenile for sexual conduct. It was later found out that Crowe had just started as a track coach in the Lake Local School District.

“We’re doing our job to get them so that when they go and try to file for a coaching job or a teaching job or any kind of job with kids, this is there,” said Wedge. “Now the school districts, or whoever is going to employ them, they have to answer for that now.”

In addition to the Lake coach, the other men who were arrested include a long time employee with Springfield Schools and a volunteer coach from New Riegel.

The men who have been caught were trying to meet with who they believed to be children. Those children, however, were actually Fostoria Police officers posing as a young child through the online operation.

“We can’t make it their idea. We put it out there,” said Fostoria Police Chief Gabe Wedge. “The opportunity is there. If they act upon it, then that’s on them. We don’t go after them, they come to us.”

These men come from all over the region and out of state with all sorts of backgrounds.

To illustrate the desperation of some of these men, Fostoria Police told 13abc that one man took a bus from Erie, Pennsylvania to Toledo. Once he arrived, he rented an electric scooter and attempted to ride it all the way from Toledo to Fostoria. He didn’t make it all the way and ended up getting a ride share.

All of the men who have been arrested were accused of coming to Fostoria under a false impression, with the ultimate goal for Police of keeping kids safe not only here, but everywhere.

“I’m not going to sit here and worry about what the sentences are. We want to get them in the system and let it be known,” said Wedge. “Is this something that can be corrected through rehabilitation or counseling? That’s not for us to judge. That’s for the court system.”

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